The Syrian campaigns of Ali Bey were expeditions by armies of the mamluk ruler of Egypt, Ali Bey al-Kabir, against the Ottoman governor of Damascus in November 1770–June 1771, in alliance with Daher al-Umar, the strongman of northern Palestine. The campaigns gave Ali Bey control of southern Palestine and Damascus, temporarily reconstituting the former Mamluk empire.
The campaigns ended when the commander of Ali Bey's forces, the veteran general Abu al-Dhahab, abruptly withdrew his forces to Egypt from Damascus ten days after conquering the city. Abu al-Dhahab soon after deposed Ali Bey, who took up refuge with Daher in Acre. Ali Bey and Daher did not carry on the campaign to Damascus, but recaptured Jaffa in February 1773 and defended their interests in Palestine. With Daher's backing, Ali Bey launched an expedition to regain power in Egypt in March but was defeated and captured by Abu al-Dhahab's forces on 1 May, dying days later. In March 1775, Abu al-Dhahab launched his own Syrian campaign, this time attempting to take over of Daher's domains with the tacit support of the Ottomans.
Background The Mamluk Sultanate, the Cairo-based empire that spanned Egypt and Syria, was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1516–1517. Nevertheless, the mamluk (manumitted slave soldier) caste which had ruled the fallen empire, was kept in place by the Ottomans, dominated Egypt's economy, and maintained a parallel military structure alongside the Ottoman troops there. By the early 18th century, the mamluk beys (governors) had become so militarily and politically dominant in Egypt that a new governing post was inaugurated for them, that of (chief of the country). which practically superseded the Ottoman governor of Egypt. In 1760, the mamluk Ali Bey al-Kabir rose to the office of , served until his exile in 1766 and regained power in 1767. He thereafter consolidated his control of the country from rival mamluks and the lead Ottoman officials, terminating the annual tribute to the Ottoman sultan and minting coins in his own name by 1769, an effective declaration of sovereignty. Not long after, he attempted to extend his control to Syria.
In the late 1760s, Ali Bey began purchasing weapons and troops from Daher al-Umar, the Acre-based Arab and strongman of northern Palestine. Daher had been in control of the Galilee, part of the Sidon Eyalet, since the 1730s–1740s and in 1761, occupied the harbor village of Haifa, sparking a crisis between him and the governor of Damascus, Uthman Pasha al-Kurji, as Haifa was under Damascene jurisdiction. Historian Daniel Crecelius considers this cooperation to be evidence that Daher and Ali Bey were "committed to joint operations". Daher had forged relations with Ali Bey during the latter's exile to Gaza in 1766, promising to support Ali Bey's return to power in Egypt as . After Ali Bey regained power in Cairo, he exiled his treasurer, the Melkite Mikha'il al-Jamal, to Acre, where Daher's chief minister, the Melkite Ibrahim al-Sabbagh, persuaded Daher to lobby Ali Bey on Mikha'il's behalf. Ali Bey agreed to reinstate Mikha'il and back Daher in his struggles with Uthman Pasha, who had already gained the enmity of Ali Bey from 1764 when they clashed in the Hejaz as each leader led their respective Hajj pilgrim caravans to Mecca. In return, Daher sent European weapons to Ali Bey in 1769. Ali Bey, seeking to expand his influence to Syria for strategic purposes, had a mutual interest in subduing Damascus. Political conditions favored the two leaders' cause, as the imperial government, bogged down in war with Russia, was not well positioned to confront a joint offensive by Ali Bey and Daher.
First campaign under Ismail Bey Occupation of southern Palestine The campaign in Syria was inaugurated in November 1770, when Ali Bey dispatched a vanguard force under Abd al-Rahman Agha to eliminate Salit, the chief of the powerful Wuhaydat Bedouins around Gaza. Salit was lured into a trap and killed along with his brothers and sons. He followed up by dispatching land and sea expeditions, the former from Cairo under his lieutenant Ismail Bey, and the latter from Damietta on 11 November under Sulayman Bey Umar Kashif. Ismail Bey, his forces numbering 15,000 to 20,000 men, gained the immediate surrender of Gaza, whose inhabitants had chafed under the onerous governance of Uthman Pasha, drove out his (deputy governor) and welcomed Ismail Bey. On 30 November, the next city, Ramla, similarly capitulated without resistance. Ismail Bey appointed mamluk governors to both cities and declared a reprieve from the tax, earmarked for the Hajj pilgrim caravans, for four years. This won the goodwill of the inhabitants of the surrounding countryside. Ali Bey gave strict instructions to his deputies not to harm the Christian communities and European merchants and sent letters promising protection to the clergy of the Terre Sainte and the French merchants in Jaffa and Ramla.
After notice from his ally, the sheikh of the Jarrar family of the Sanur fortress near Nablus, Uthman Pasha gathered an emergency force and took Jaffa (not far from Ramla), whose inhabitant leaned toward Ali Bey, on 1 December. Ismail Bey was encamped at Ramla, awaiting the arrival of Ali Bey's ally Daher al-Umar. Uthman Pasha nearly destroyed an Egyptian reconnaissance force, sending the severed heads of its troops to the Ottoman sultan as proof of his victory. Despite the morale boost among Uthman Pasha's soldiers, the arrival of Daher and his men a few days later and his warning that he would attack prompted Uthman Pasha to withdraw from Jaffa on 9 December. Afterward, Daher and Ismail Bey occupied Jaffa, allowing Ali Bey's naval troops to land there, as well as in Acre.
After Uthman Pasha's withdrawal, the offensive stalled, at least partly due to Daher falling ill and returning to Acre on 15 December. While a detachment headed by Daher's sons remained with Ismail Bey, the latter may have hesitated to move forward against Damascus in case of Daher's death and the loss of his military support. Alternatively, Daher's side may have discouraged Ismail Bey from proceeding amid Daher's illness to avoid losing influence over the Egyptian campaign. During the following two months, Ismail Bey left alone the better fortified cities and villages like Jerusalem and Sanur, which remained loyal to Uthman Pasha, as these were not obstacles to Damascus and subduing them could have bogged down his forces, detracting from his principal aim of toppling Uthman Pasha in Damascus.
Ali Bey's proclamation to the Damascenes On 22 December 1770 a manifesto by Ali Bey addressed to the (notables) of Damascus had arrived in the city. In it, Ali Bey titled himself the (governor) of Egypt and a former (commander of the Hajj pilgrim caravan). He cited Uthman Pasha's alleged injustices against the Hajj pilgrims and the merchant class (both economically vital groups in Damascus) as the reason for his campaign against the governor. Ali Bey notified the ulema (religious scholarly class) of Uthman Pasha's depredations against the ulema of Gaza and the sanctioning of his campaign against Uthman Pasha by the qadis (head judges) of the four Sunni Muslim (schools of jurisprudence) of Egypt. He requested the collaboration of the Damascenes in expelling Uthman Pasha, warning that he would do so by force regardless.
The proclamation stirred the mufti of Damascus and other notables, who notified Uthman Pasha. The latter proceeded to personally command the Hajj pilgrim caravan from Damascus on 25 January, taking extra security precautions and installing his deputy Mustafa Agha, head of the imperial janissaries as his in Damascus. Despite widespread rumors in the city that Ali Bey's coalition would assault Uthman Pasha en route to Mecca, this never materialized. Evidently, Ismail Bey rejected Daher's plans to launch the attack, citing potential harm to the pilgrims and the consequent eliciting of God's wrath.
Abortive expedition against Damascus In early March 1771, Ali Bey, who had continued to mobilize troops for the Syria campaign deployed 4,000 reinforcements to Ismail Bey and Daher, who had taken control of Muzayrib, a key fortified village on the Hajj caravan route in the Hauran plains south of Damascus, ostensibly to intercept Uthman Pasha on his return from Mecca with the caravan. Daher spent the interval period clearing and raiding rural areas under Damascene jurisdiction. His forces raided Quneitra and the Nu'aym Bedouins and attempted to occupy Irbid.
Uthman Pasha's son, the governor of Tripoli Muhammad Pasha al-Kurji, arrived in Damascus with 1,800 soldiers, on 5 March to lead the , a military force that helped safeguard the Hajj caravan's return. None of the janissaries or irregulars stationed in Damascus agreed to accompany Muhammad Pasha. Instead, the latter, with the help of the Sardiyya Bedouins, avoided confrontation with Isma'il Bey by taking a longer alternative route through the environs of Bosra, bypassing Muzayrib. In the meantime, reinforcements arrived in Damascus led by the high-ranking governors of Aleppo, Kilis and Urfa. Their presence may have had a deterrent effect on Isma'il Bey and Daher who decamped their forces from Muzayrib. Daher returned to the Galilee and his Metawali allies returned to Jabal Amil, while Ismail Bey shifted his focus to Jabal Nablus (the hill country of Nablus). He attempted to subdue the Jarrar chief of Sanur, but this proved elusive, though he did take over Qabatiya and gained the capitulations of other rural chiefs.
Second campaign under Abu al-Dhahab Arrival in Palestine Ali Bey marshaled a second large army in Egypt, headed by his subordinate mamluk, the accomplished general Muhammad Bey Abu al-Dhahab. Several unconfirmed reports found in Venetian correspondences indicate tensions between Ali Bey and Abu al-Dhahab and a reticence on the latter's part to take up the Syria campaign so soon after his return from an exhausting campaign in the Hejaz. Nevertheless, Abu al-Dhahab left Cairo at the head of a large army on 19 April 1771 and arrived in Ramla on 11 May or 17 May. En route, Abu al-Dhahab faced difficulties, his army, transporting cannons by camel and being hit with the plague, having to abandon some fifty cannons in the desert. In Ramla, he linked up with Ismail Bey's troops.
In contrast to his earlier reception of Ismail Bey, Daher did not welcome Abu al-Dhahab in person. Instead, he sent his son, which Abu al-Dhahab considered an insult. Daher's absence may have been an oversight due to illness, old age or busy work overseeing the fortification of Acre, but contributed to Abu al-Dhahab's later enmity with Daher. For the remainder of the campaign, Daher, though fully committed to his alliance with Ali Bey, refrained from accompanying Abu al-Dhahab. Instead, Daher's son Ali led the Zaydani and Metawali forces alongside Abu al-Dhahab. Ali Bey's coalition cleared Palestine of Uthman Pasha's troops and loyalists, save for Jerusalem and a handful of strongly fortified towns, by end of May. On 1 June, Uthman Pasha received a letter from Abu al-Dhahab warning that Ali Bey had appointed him governor of Damascus and to withdraw from the city to spare its inhabitants from war.
Battle at Darayya